Recollection
by ArisaCake
Summary: Levi could feel a lump forming in his throat as he attempted to open his mouth to say a name that hasn't left his lips for a whole lifetime. A name he used to often use and was finally reintroduced to after all this time. "Eren?" (Ratings may go up)
1. Prologue

_"Ready!" _

_A soldier quickly responded to the demand and whipped out his shotgun at the boy in the middle of the court who was chained to a post. Right at that moment, a foot met with the boy's face, the kick strong enough to blow one of his teeth out and make it bounce on the tiled floor at least four times. The boy only glanced at the tooth before turning to the man responsible for his bleeding mouth. Before any words could be formed from his mouth, the man switched legs and let it collide with the defenseless teen's stomach. He grabbed the boy by his greasy brown hair and brought him towards him as close as the chains allowed him. Back to using his right leg, he harshly bashed it to the kid's face as he watched with merciless gray eyes. _

_The beating continued all the while the people watched around at the court, all their faces were shocked and caught off guard by the man's sudden actions. One of the individuals who was on the boy's side was a girl with short hair who came from an Asian and European descent, whose expression quickly turning from shock to anger in a matter of seconds. She was ready to charge at the short man beating the chained brunet and fight him for hurting him. Even so, a blond boy who was around her age was quick enough to grab her by her wrist and arm before she could do something to worse the current situation. _

_"Wait, Mikasa!"_

_Somehow, her friend's words replaced her anger with worry, and so they both turn back to the scene of the beating. _

_As for the final hit, while the boy's head was still laying low and out of energy from his previous beatings, he took it as a chance to stomp on his head. And so, he began to speak. _

_"It's just my personal opinion," his voice sounded dull and bored, yet it contained a serious tone that no one around would dare to disrupt. "But pain is the best tool for discipline. You don't need to be educated by words. You need training." Those last sentence was meant for the brunet he had under his feet, and he kept his stare stern and unfaltering. He had to keep up this act just for a little while longer. Just enough to save a life. _

_"You've fallen low enough that you're easy to kick around, anyway," then he gave him a chain of kicks to make it convincing for everyone. For a while, it was silent except for the boy who was reacting to the pain from the blows of the captain's boots to his body._

_"Hold on, Levi," one of the men, the chief of the Military Police, Nile Dawk, decided to speak up. _

_"What?"_

_"It's dangerous. What if he starts raging and turns into a Titan?"_

_The boy looks up at Levi with a bloody nose and bruised face then receiving another kick to the face. For a moment, he saw those incomparable, fierce, teal eyes, filled with a mix of confusion and determination. The moment was short before his foot reunited with his face. _

* * *

Levi's eyes shot wide open and his body sprang up. It took him a few seconds before he shut his eyes and rubbed the temples between his knotted brows. "Shit, another one," he hissed before turning to his clock on his nightstand.

5:28 AM. Just two more minutes before the beginning of the noise of the world crashing down in Levi's ears. Otherwise known as his alarm clock. He reached over to grab his phone right next to the clock and tapped on one of his speed dials. He brought his phone up to his ear and waited for the faint click that told him that the other party had answered it. The first ring felt long and steady. The second one felt a bit shorter. Finally at the third one, the call was finally answered halfway through its ringing.

Levi clicked his tongue and barked, "What took you so long to answer? I know you're still awake."

There was a jolly chuckled that hummed through the other end, the voice sounded feminine but not quite to the extent of the generalization of girly. "Sorry, I had my phone under a pile of papers. So what's up? Got another vision?"

Levi answered with an irritated hum.

"What happened?"

He shut his eyes once more in hopes that it would stimulate his memories. "It was in a courtyard and I was beating up this ki—"

The voice on the other end broke into a squeal, interrupting Levi's story.

His eyes shot open in a glare that could be felt on the other line. "Damn it, Hange! Are you going to do that every single time?" If it were possible, the annoyance in his voice could very well just slap them from the other end of the call. It was, now, 5:29, the clock was going to blast in one more minute and Levi does not have the patience to deal with useless interruptions when he had just woken up. He would have never even called them if it wasn't for the deal they made in high school where they first met. Or in clearer terms, met again. Levi had broken memories of the past, back where there were monsters called Titans roaming the Earth. From time to time, some pieces of the past would come back to him in visions, not necessarily in dreams. Unlike him, Hange had full recollection of the past and it has been their deal for Levi to tell them as much of these visions as he would like to share.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Hange laughed, "Continue."

Levi sighed. "I was beating up this kid in the courtyard and I said something about how pain is true discipline. He was bleeding because of me," he paused and shut his eyes once more. "I was doing it all to save his life because we could use him."

"Mhm," she could be heard nodding on the other side. "Was that all? Do you remember who he is?"

"Yeah, his name is—"

_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_

And there goes the alarm clock. Levi cringed at the annoying noise and almost smashed his fist on the snooze button. "I'll call you back later." Before Hange could even react, Levi had already hung up. He knew very well how Hange was capable of distracting him from his morning routines to the point of getting him late for his morning class. it happened one time and never again. It was bad enough these visions of the past would just occur randomly during the day, the last thing he needed right now was Hange's constant babbling about Titans because quite frankly, he didn't care about them whatsoever.

Levi sat on the edge of his bed and scratched the back of his head on the part that was partially shaven to form an undercut. He could see the sky through the window to side side of his bed, the sun still not visible but something about the faint clear blue sky gave him a feeling it was going to be a long day.

* * *

It was around 12:30 in the afternoon and Levi had a few more hours before his next class. At this time, lunch was something he and his stomach could agree on. There was a newly opened restaurant a few blocks away from his apartment complex that Hange had been bothering him to try out for the past week and judging by her excitement, there was definitely a reason behind it. Looks like he's about to find out.

Levi parked his car nearby the restaurant and was making his way to the new eatery when a sudden slamming noise caught his attention.

His foot froze halfway before completely meeting the cement surface. He blocked off the sounds of the footsteps of other passerby's and the running engines of the slow driving cars. The noise came from the alleyway between two buildings.

_A beating? _Levi thought, _Fucking teenagers. What a typical place to beat someone up. _

Useless problems like these were what he hated the most. _  
_

Normally, he wouldn't even bat an eye and get himself involved in these matters, but this was different. There was something about today that's got him convinced that this one will be worth everything. Levi wasn't the type to believe in things like fate so expecting anything big from this matter was not at the top of his head, but having past memories about giants to prove his reincarnation being true, he didn't know what else to think at this point.

Quietly, he walked over to the incident. The more slamming that rang through his ears, the faster his feet dragged him. Eventually, before him, he saw four boys around the age of eighteen. one of them was holding back a struggling brunet whose bangs were long enough to cover—what Levi could assume is—his fierce eyes and stick to the sweat around his neck. The other two were laughing as one of them was about to strike another punch.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Levi interrupted. The alley they were at was dim and the sun stood behind Levi, causing his shadow to loom over the boys. Nonetheless, the his facial expression still had that touch of strictness and toughness enough to bring others down on their knees before him and ready to be ordered around.

Like he hoped, the three boys dashed off, and the one holding the fourth boy had just mindlessly thrown him down to the ground which resulted him to cough and groan in pain. Levi eyed him down, observing whether or not he would harm him in any way regardless of him saving his life. He laid there for a moment, his bangs—annoyingly, Levi noted—covering about half of his sweaty bruised face, and his clothes covered in dust and dirt.

At one point, the boy tried to stand up but he struggled with his arm being too injured to lift his own weight up. His attempts were a failure and resulted with him slumping back on the ground.

"Hey, hey, you're only going to get yourself even more hurt if you keep that up," Levi warned as he walked and bent over to the other male who forcibly kept his body up with his arms supporting his body while his head was slumped down.

He didn't seem like he was going to comply to any of Levi's advice thus far so that idea was thrown out the window. He sighed and took a different approach. "I'm studying to be a doctor, I can help, so stop being a little shit about this. The least you can do is tell me where it hurts."

After a few seconds of silence, the brunet finally decided to lift his head up and face Levi, and only did then Levi figured out why his day was going to be long. As he raised his head, his bangs managed to mostly go to sides and revealing more of his face. He was fairly tanned underneath the bruises and black eye, his lips were slightly dried but not exactly cracked, his nose didn't seem to be dislocated, but the kicker was his eyes. Levi could honestly say that it was one of the most beautiful pairs he has ever laid his eyes on. He felt like he was staring at an underwater forest that had its wildlife in the form of the energy that it emitted. As weak as the state of his body was, his eyes did not waver. It all felt so familiar.

Then it clicked.

Levi could feel a lump forming in his throat as he attempted to open his mouth to say a name that hasn't left his lips for a whole lifetime. A name he used to often use and was finally reintroduced to after all this time.

"Eren?"


	2. The Survey Corps

It's been a week since Eren was saved from a fuck up he got involved in. How did life manage to know when the perfect moment to mess with his schedule was? It was a three versus one fight—a fight he didn't even want to be in, mind you—and it was obviously foul play. How was he supposed to know those guys wanted some kind of revenge on that very day, on that _very _street where he was on his way to his first job for training.

A job was something he's been looking forward to having because he was tired of being babied by his parents and his childhood friends constantly having to look after him. He wanted to prove to them and to himself that he could do something for himself and on his own. But apparently those bastards he tried to stand up from for picking on Armin decided to go after him on that very day. What the heck? Mikasa was there too. Why did they go after him? Not that he minded to much because this meant that they deemed him more of a fitting opponent for them.

Yeah, Mikasa was out of their league.

Life's a dick so might as well just suck it up the best way possible.

Most of his visible wounds were healing rapidly. His body seemed to heal itself pretty quickly. It wasn't exactly inhumanly fast but it was quicker compared to other people in general.

Eren was staring at the ceiling on his bed with his arms behind his head for more leverage. Memories of what happened a week ago wondered through Eren's head. He internally cursed at himself for bumping into those guys.

He could only faintly remember what happened next. He knew he lost because there were three of those fuckers and he wasn't exactly _that_ strong. He wasn't a Mikasa level strong but he wasn't an Armin either. No offense to his best buddy. _  
_

He remembers fainting and waking up in the hospital with Mikasa holding and rubbing his hand.

But what happened before that?

The memory was a bit hazy, but he knows someone saved him and he was certain that it wasn't Mikasa because she had class, and the only way she would miss it was if she was extremely sick or if she knew Eren was getting his ass kicked. But judging by Mikasa's surprise to Eren's beat up body at the hospital, he would assume she didn't know about it prior.

His savior's dark hair did make him think that it was Mikasa at first. Everything was a huge blur and it made it extremely difficult to see anything, but that voice—oh, _god_—that voice was definitely _not _Mikasa's._  
_

He could still hear it. It was deep and a bit raspy, but this was a voice that sent him satisfaction and relaxing vibes to his mind. It was perfect with its deep tone and even though it sounded bored, there was something behind it. Eren didn't know how to describe it but it was definitely more to it than sounding bored as hell. The way he asked him how he was, the way he said his name—

_"Eren."_

Eren rolled over to his side and curled into a ball. He stared at his knees as if that would help him get answers to how that man knew his name. Regardless of what the answer may be, he knew that no matter what, he wanted to meet him again. He wanted to thank him and he wanted answers. He hoped that the bullshittery from last week took up all the drops of bad luck he had and give him a chance to fulfill his wish.

He wanted to see his hero.

* * *

Fortunately, the restaurant Eren planned to work had a kind enough boss to give him a second chance regardless of missing a week of training. He was thankful for having an understanding boss.

Today was the start of his training for ideal waiting from the help of his adviser and fellow worker—

"Oh, fuck," Eren blinked in confusion as he heard his adviser Jean Kirschtein say after seeing him for the first time. His face looked like he was completely done with the world and he was ready to throw the towel on his arm to the floor any second now.

"Excuse me?" Eren cocked an eyebrow, still in the state of confusion. _What's his problem?_

He knew that he got into fights a lot but nothing even happened yet between them to start a freaking showdown. Might as well turn this restaurant into a boxing rink if all the other staffs were like the horse-face in front of him.

Jean cocked an eyebrow as well and he stared at Eren for a good five seconds before sighing and relaxing his body. "Nothing, sorry. I must have mistaken you for someone else," he apologized which rubbing the back of his undercut. "I'm Jean, by the way," he held out a hand to the brunet in front of him.

Eren relaxed his face at the apology and reached for the two-toned haired man's hand. "I'm Eren Yeager, nice to meet you."

"On second thought, maybe I wasn't mistaken," Eren heard Jean whisper to himself, leaving him confused as he was previously.

"Huh?"

Jean waved a hand in front of his face as if it could manage to brush of Eren's confusion, and shook his head. "Nothing, nothing. It's just you remind me of this suicidal bastard I once knew. His hair was shorter though, and we would probably be yelling at each other's faces by now."

"Are you trying to imply something?" by now Eren was confused and pissed. A very common combination for him.

Needless to say, their training had many complications and a plate almost meeting its demise. They obviously didn't get along, especially at the part where Eren had to pretend that Jean was a customer and he had to ask him _nicely _for his order. He to take a deep breath and use whatever strength he had left in him to even force on a smile for that horse-faced bastard.

Jean, as the jackass he had proven to Eren to be, asks for the specialty for that day. Now, how the fuck would Eren know any of that shit because:

1) The restaurant was closed so there shouldn't be any specialties.

2) Since it's Jean, he'd much rather give him his special knuckle sandwich for free.

Eren took another deep breath and plastered an irritated smile on his face. "I'm sorry, Sir, but we don't have any specials."

Jean shook his head in disappointment. "I told you our example special for the day. Weren't you listening?"

Eren dropped his fake smile, realizing that he admittedly did not listen to Jean for a good two minutes to cool his head away from him. "How could I when all I hear are neighing?" he murmured.

Jean knotted his brows and frowned. "What was that, Jungle Hair?"

If it were possible, Eren's jungle—ahem—hair would have risen in furry. He get into a fight to get here only to get into another one. He was stuck with this bastard and getting along with him seemed like one of the most impossible things anyone could ever give him.

He took a deep breathe and gritted his teeth into a smile.

"I'm going to kill you, Kirschtein."

* * *

Levi's apartment smelled like tropical fruits and sweet flowers. He favored subtle scents, strong ones made him want to vomit.

The owner of the apartment sat on his work chair, sighing and brushing his hair back as he finally started his break from typing up an assignment. He leaned forward and stretched his arm out and with intertwined fingers, cracking them in the process.

His thoughts immediately lingered to the events from a week before.

Wait, no, that's already been on his mind. It was the very reason he decided to take a break to begin with.

He remembered seeing Eren being beaten up by three men around his age, and before he knew it, he was staring down at him in the hospital. He watched him breathe softly in his sleep, his face having more bruises become visible on his tanned flesh. He recalled sliding a finger over his face. It was smooth and sweaty as hell. Levi didn't seem to mind. Since he was pursuing to be a doctor, he shouldn't be easily disgusted (although he still liked to be clean in his own home and premises).

Hange came afterwards after receiving a call from Levi. They dropped whatever they were doing and stood there in silence. Levi expected them to be excited but the stunned silence they showed during their phone call and that moment told him otherwise. So maybe even Hange had rare moments of being serious.

It wasn't long until they both had to depart. They both had classes and somehow eating wasn't on his mind anymore. Also, they were both sure that they both saw Mikasa pass by as they exited the building. Levi's memories weren't as good as Hange's but he knew who she was to Eren and who Eren was to her. Maybe time hasn't changed that much after all.

And so that's where it left off. Just that? He saves the brat and never see him ever again? Not even a thank you afterwards?

Levi sighed.

What was it about the thought of not seeing him again bother him so much? Was it because he didn't thank him? Was he really that selfish and bother about not getting a "thank you for saving my ass in this life too"?_  
_

This time a groan escaped his lips and he decided to lie down on his bed and sleep. Fuck his report, he'll do it tomorrow morning.

* * *

"What the fuck, Hange?" Levi groaned. Hange had him by the arm and they dragged him on to the sidewalk with a grin on their face,

"Come on, we're eat at the new restaurant whether you like it or not!"

Levi clicked his tongue.

Hange turned their head to their friend, revealing that grin he cringed at the sight of. "There's a surprise."

He didn't know whether to be anxious or determined.

It wasn't long until they reached the restaurant and as soon as they stood before it, Levi had a pretty good guess on to why Hange was so excited.

"The Sir V. Corps" Levi read the name. _Sir V _stood out between _the _and _corps_ for emphasis and it had a fansier font than the two words that sandwiched it.

Hange clapped their hands and faced Levi, awaiting for more commentary. He swore that their grin got impossibly wider. They somehow looked creepier than those Titans he wished he could forget and they would shut up about.

He rolled his eyes, his face still deadpanned but slightly amused. "How very original of him." The sarcastic tone in his voice had a pinch of amusement.

Hange let out a laugh and patter their friend on the back. "Come on, there's one more surprise."

Levi raised a brow, finally interested on what awaits him and followed his friend into the eatery.

* * *

"Yesterday was hell," Jean admitted, standing at a corner with Eren right next to him, nodding in agreement.

They were both in uniform and ready to serve. Their outfits were supposed to be military based but the style wasn't familiar to Eren. He did adore the pair of black and white wings overlapped each other on his uniform. It looked artistic and somehow appealing to him. Even the name of it was kinda catchy—The Wings of Freedom.

He heard that people would make fun of the fact that it had freedom in it because the owner of the restaurant looked rather similar to Captain America, which he did, Eren thought admittedly. He only saw him once (but never talked to him or actually came to him face to face) and with that blond hair and that body build, they could be twins of America justice.

He may not get along with Jean too well but they managed to spark up a argument-free—although, not for long—conversation. Mostly of gossips.

"Jean, we need help in here!" a voice came from inside the kitchen, and right then two costumers entered. He didn't even bother to look and took off after telling Eren to handle them on his own.

Before Eren could say anything, his mentor was gone and he was left to deal with the two new costumers on his own. He was thankful of the fact that there were only two other tables to worry about and they were both occupied with food so the least he could worry about was if they wanted to order more or ask for the bill.

He watched a brunette with glasses and a dark haired man walk over to a booth table after looking around and eyeing the place, and scurried off over to them with a pen and notepad ready in hand.

Right when Levi sat down, he met with an immediate voice welcoming them and asking for their orders. He was about to comment about how he surprised the shit out of him but the words didn't make it out his mouth and his eyes locked on his chocolate haired waiter.

It was Eren. He was clean and wearing the military uniform from the past and it matched the background of the restaurant which had walls that looked like the giant walls that protected them from Titans in his broken memories. The upstairs portion of place had those big ass trees painted realistically on the walls towering over them and were easily seen from the bottom floor. It was a reference that only those with recollections of the past would understand.

He wasn't sure whether or not Eren was fortunate or unfortunate for this matter.

More importantly, Eren had his hair tied and most of it was away from his face. He was cleaner and healed up great. His face was free from bruises and cuts, leaving his bright eyes to stand out even more, especially with that sun kissed skin. Those unforgettable eyes held Levi captivated and he was sure everyone else would be too.

Levi broke out from his trance of staring at the younger man and glanced at Hange. He was about to ask them if this was the second surprise, but he didn't seem to need a verbal confirmation because that shit eating grin on their face looked like a better proof than words could manage.

Eren was staring back at Levi the whole time and never left for Hange until he averted his eyes. The stare wasn't too long but he managed to let details seep in, like those dull silver pupils that bore into his that he swore shined even just for a split second. That undercut fit him quite nicely, he would admit. His dark hair also complimented his fair pale face that delivered no obvious emotion.

He snapped back to reality and repeated his question. "May I take your orders?"

The question had no other objectives other than to take their orders and it hid nothing else. Levi turned back to Eren with a questioning look and Eren only stared at him back with confusion and maintaining patience.

Only then did Levi realized that Eren had no recollection.


End file.
